Wow, was this a surprise that came in from behind. I felt I should not leave you hanging since I have requested your votes in the last two posts. At least you need to know what it is all about. I schedule posts, so I just added the information at the bottom of each (Using a Flash in Your Garden Photos, and Do You Feel the Garden Maintenance Buzz) without much explanation. So here goes with what I learned in the meantime…

I got an email on Thursday from The Garden Bloggers Conference being held in Atlanta, Georgia this September 22-24 at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead, and GWGT was a finalist in their Hall of Fame voting. I am in amongst bloggers I do not know so I went to see their blogs. Two of them especially have very fine photographs and also have I believe, a greater presence in garden blogging. It is funny I never heard of their blogs before though.

The email encouraged me to get the word out on the conference and also tell you all about the voting.

Many great speakers will be in attendance in Atlanta. It is the first year for this event and it sounds like a very informative conference with even a talk on how to better use photography in your blogging. I would love to see who is giving this talk. This is from their site, “How photography can help you build your brand, differentiate your blog, and build traffic on your website.”

I never set out to build a brand or create a “look” for my site. Being formally in advertising, that almost seems inconceivable to have overlooked this golden opportunity. As an architect, I plan to the last detail too. But blogging is just a creative outlet for me, so I never thought to where it might lead.

This conference is open to garden bloggers, garden writers, landscape designers, nurserymen, organic gardeners, even garden enthusiasts and aspiring gardeners, so talks must be geared to all levels of attendees.

I think one topic would be very helpful for a noncommercial blog such as mine, “Connecting with users: What you should know about search and analytics.” I think this topic important for all casual bloggers. Many have no clue how to build readership by tackling the search and analytical portion of blogging. I am lax here too. I recognize the importance, but overlook the weight it should play.

I have no idea how I got nominated, but I am very honored. I thank whomever was responsible too.

If you click this link, you can vote for Garden Walk Garden Talk to win the category. I am grateful and thankful to my readers.

Photography and art is very important to me, so being nominated in this category really has made my day. I thank all of you that have already voted. So go have a golden day of your own, I know mine shone a bit brighter.

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About Garden Walk Garden Talk

I love to photograph, paint, draw, design, garden, travel the world, and pass on a few tips and ideas that I learned through experience as a Master Gardener and architect. I am highly trained in my field and enjoy my work each and every day. I garden in Niagara Falls, NY in zone 6-B. Find me at: http://gardenwalkgardentalk.com

50 Responses to The Garden Bloggers Conference – Go for the Gold

A well-deserved nomination. Good luck to you. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the conference, as I’ll be leading a garden tour in England and then making a quick trip to Italy. Have fun! Maybe our paths will cross another time.

Congratulations again. The photos for this post are amazing as usual! Maybe during the winter you might find the time for a post on some readership info? I’m always curious as to how those search things work and how all the tagging and such pans out… I just can’t make sense of it on my own 🙂

I really have no real readership advice. I think I get my readers from many different places. The search engines seem to change algorithms often. I wish there was a way to figure them out. I could never do what the SEO’s say and use key words repeatedly in each paragraph. Not every post is about gardens for instance. The tagging is tricky too. I find looking for what people search for very helpful in tagging posts. But the post has to support those tags too. If a popular tag is used and not supported in the copy, the search engines “know” this and make sure a post is not accessed through that popular search term.

Thank you for commenting and congrats to you too. I am fine for whoever wins because all selected have wonderful blogs. I was amazed at some of the photography too. I did visit your blog and it is very nice. I was surprised how many blogs I did not see before. I found out too late to get a reasonable flight. My husband said drive. That far??? My gosh.

Seeing your lovely pictures suddenly brings the realisation that after green, the next most common colour in plants is yellow. Could this be true? And if indeed so, what might be the reason for nature to do this?

Hi Donna, I’ve voted, I’d love to go to the conference – in theory, anyway – it might feel a bit weird leaving the relative safety of the virtual world. I echo all the nice things that people have said above, and the photos in this post are spectacular.

It is funny, but I never did fear leaving the virtual world. I enjoyed actually meeting bloggers, some of whom became “real” friends. We did joke which one of us might be an ax murderer though! But everyone was so nice.

This conference seems to be all business though, more like a trade convention. The Fling was mostly all fun. It is nice to have both though. I think this convention focuses more on making each blogger successful, which makes me think it looks more to commercial blogs. I have been asked often to make the switch and allow ads, but it is still something I have yet to do. I find those asking want too much control on what I print (ie it would be all gardens all the time). Seems they are not content to ride along on my sidebar. I guess that is expected though since they do pay and some pay very well. They almost got me once with a nice offer. Maybe someday I will go .org. That gives me more creative control as well. Thank you for your vote. I am just glad GWGT was recognized, so that was the win for me.

Donna, Congratulations! This is a very deserving honour for you. You may not have set out to take this path but your passion and skills have lead you down this road. Enjoy it my friend. You got my vote. Wish you all the best in the finals.